Sweetheart Potluck

Though Activity Director’s late nod to Valentine’s Day ─ yesterday’s Sweetheart Potluck, was well-attended, the event had nothing to do with Valentines or Sweethearts.

It was too late. The seniors were over hearts, flowers and sweets.

The Community Room decorations had already been switched out for the next thing.

And instead of the plethora of desserts one would expect for a Valentine’s Day event, the menu was savory not sweet ─ Sandwiches, Chips, Macaroni Salad, Potato Salad, Lettuce Soup.

Lettuce soup was new to me. It looked delicious and everyone said it tasted so.

I couldn’t risk the soup containing ingredients I can no longer have, so I passed on it ─ and everything else. I did however later do research and located several recipes online, finally finding a recipe I can incorporate into my meal plan.

Greedy Grabby not only contributed to the potluck, but went all out with a platter of Grape Leaves, Rice with Chicken. (Trying to make amends perhaps).

One dessert did end up on the counter ─ Two containers of store-bought cupcakes.

Monthly birthday celebrations are a thing of the past. Another resident, wanting everyone to know the day was her birthday and wanting a celebration, brought her own cake.

I can’t decide if that was being desperate for attention or to be applauded as a ballsy move.

Apache, waning for attention, stood up and announced he was wearing his Success by Trump Cologne and asked how it smelled.

No one took the bait but me.

“Smells like skunk”, said I.

He laughed. He likes me like a sister, so I can get away with denigrating his hero, whereas he ends up in an argument when others do so.

Later, I was more truthful and said I couldn’t smell anything.

Apache offered his wrist for me to sniff. “Oh, I smell it now. But it smells weak, like the traitor”.

That was the truth. The cologne isn’t very strong. You have to focus to catch the aroma. It’s weak.

But to each his own.

A few residents, who were not present last time I showed up, were surprised to see me. Saying, they’d been asking around as to whatever happened to me ... “Did she move?”

Guess I’m going to have to get out more often.

Inasmuch as Apache is our unofficial mayor, the person willing to tackle Corporate, residents bring their issues to him. He in turn rats management and Corporate out to the county folks. (There’s an issue going on now where management took advantage of not having a manager and locked the doors for four days. No one could enter the office area through the front, no one could get to the Game Room. In fact, Assistant Community Manager wasn’t even in the office and the maintenance guys were observed, through the windows, to be in the Game Room playing pool. Apache got on his phone, turned them all in, and is once again persona non grata. Corporate has had enough, wrote him up for creating a "disturbance", trying to get him outta here. Apache, of course, like a true Trump supporter is enjoying the fight and has no intention of backing down.)

I was sitting with Apache when a resident in a wheelchair rolled over to tell him someone had stolen all her towels from the dryer.

Seriously? Stealing laundry? How low can a person go.

Apache said he’d report it.

In all fairness, I don’t see what management can do about that. There’s no camera in the laundry rooms, so we’ll just have to not leave our laundry unattended. Apache, on the other hand, sees it as one more nail to hammer management with.

Before I headed back upstairs, after the event, I popped into the office to put in a Maintenance Request for my overhead kitchen lighting. Assistant Community Manager took the request and asked, “What’s your unit number?”

All of a sudden I drew a blank.

My mind went completely empty ... there was nothing there. I could not remember where I lived!

She had to look it up on the computer.

At any rate, the Assistant Maintenance Guy showed up pretty quick, replaced the burnt out tube and, before leaving, pointedly asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

I quickly processed that statement as strange … nothing any of the many maintenance guys has ever said to me before and not sure if I was reading more into it than was intended.

The women around her have in the past been very flirty with the maintenance guys. I know one who told me she’d asked one of the guys out on a date. Other maintenance guys have told others they’ve been sexually harassed by some of the women. I believe it because Apache has also been approached, only he likes it.

So, it wouldn’t be out of realm of possibility that this new guy thought I might be one of those women and threw me a line.

Deciding the best course was for me to play dumb, not take the bait, if there was bait to take, I stuck my head back into my needlepoint and tried to sound nonchalant with “No thanks”.